Brrrrr...baby it's cold outside.

Temperatures have dropped severely in the last few weeks, making it painful to get outside and do any photography for more than about 15-20 minutes.  We don't have that much good light these days, so on clear, cold days when the sun shines for a few hours, us die-hards embrace the frigid weather and make the most of the opportunity.

When I got into birding last year (read about it here), one of my obsessions became putting up bird feeders around my house. I wanted my house and yard to be a bustle of feathered activity and I tried several different varieties of bird feeders, both handmade and store bought. It didn't take long for the Black-capped Chickadees and the Red-breasted Nuthatches to find my suet cages and little plastic bird feeders. I bought the generic "wild bird seed" and watched as a few birds here and there came to enjoy the feast. I noticed that the Nuthatches would sift through the seeds and pick out tasty morsels,

First migrants arrive

The last two weeks have seen some new species arrive here in Southcentral Alaska (seems my weekly blog has turned into a bi-weekly blog lately). Last week, at one of my usual birding spots I saw a pair of Gadwall ducks and also a lone Green-winged Teal drake. It was a beautiful sunny day and I was able to get some nice shots off. I wasn't alone there, as someone I admire and respect a great deal was there ahead of me and saw me arrive. he motioned for me to come over to the water and pointed out the Gadwall. While we were shooting, the Teal showed up. Two new species in one day is a good day this time of year.

Birding in the last frontier

I'm finding that posting once a week is a good pace for me, unless something major happens that I absolutely can't wait to post like some rare bird that I came across or the birth of the newest birder in my family (looking for mid March for that action). This past week was fairly active for me as far as photography is concerned, but I did not add any new birds to my list. I came across a couple of Hairy Woodpeckers and a Downy as well, at my usual lunch break stomping grounds. And I also saw my little Boreal Owl friend again too, which was very nice. Although, it was being harassed by quite a few Jay's and Magpie's.